Indian grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi received the Arjuna Award from President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on 13 November. The 32-year-old was one of 17 athletes named for the Arjuna Award 2025, India’s second-highest national sporting honour. Women’s World Cup champion Divya Deshmukh was the other chess player honoured at the ceremony. The government announced the awardees in August.
Vidit said it was “a great feeling” to receive the award. He added that seeing his family “happy and proud” made him very happy. The ceremony came four days after he signed for Indian esports organisation Team Apex Gaming (TAG).
Vidit Gujrathi signed for Team Apex Gaming on 9 November
TAG announced Vidit as its first chess player in a post on X on 9 November. The post said “every great game needs a Grandmaster” and welcomed him by name. Vidit replied that he was “happy to be part of” the team. TAG had posted a teaser two days earlier that described an unnamed signing as a “national treasure”.
Neither TAG nor Vidit has disclosed the length or terms of the deal. The organisation has not said which online chess events he will play under its banner. As we covered in our report on Vidit Gujrathi joining Team Apex Gaming, he is the organisation’s first chess player. TAG has expanded into other games this month, adding EA FC Mobile players DeMYSTeRIO and HaloZeus on 7 November.
Vidit Gujrathi’s results at the Grand Swiss, Candidates and Olympiad
Vidit won the FIDE Grand Swiss in 2023, which earned him a place at the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Toronto. He finished sixth at the Candidates and beat Hikaru Nakamura in both of their games. He was part of the Indian men’s team that won silver at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
In September 2024 he won gold with India’s men’s team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest. India’s women’s team, including Deshmukh, also won gold at the same Olympiad. Deshmukh won the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup in Batumi, beating Humpy Koneru in tiebreaks, and earned the grandmaster title.
Vidit has also competed in esports chess events. He reached the India Rising: Road to EWC grand finals at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai in July. Dutch grandmaster Benjamin Bok beat him 2–1 in sets there to take the Esports World Cup 2026 chess spot, as we covered in our report on Vidit and Bok reaching the Mumbai LAN finals.
